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The Sun Always Shines on T.V.

"The Sun Always Shines on T.V."
Cover-sun-big.jpg
Single by A-ha
from the album Hunting High and Low
B-side
  • "Driftwood"
  • "The Sun Always Shines On T.V." (Instrumental)
Released 16 December 1985
Format
Recorded 1985
Genre
Length
  • 4:40 (Single Version)
  • 5:08 (Album Version)
  • 7:09 (Extended Version)
  • 8:28 (U.S. Steve Thompson Dance Mix)
  • 6:38 (Instrumental Version)
Label Warner Bros.
Writer(s) Pål Waaktaar
Producer(s) Alan Tarney
A-ha singles chronology
"Love is Reason"
(1985)
"The Sun Always Shines on T.V."
(1985)
"Train of Thought"
(1986)
2003 re-release chronology
"Did Anyone Approach You?"
(2002)
"The Sun Always Shines On T.V. A-ha Live"
(2003)
"Celice"
(2005)
2003 cover
"The Sun Always Shines on T.V."
The Sun Always Shines on T.V. (Diva song).jpg
Single by
from the album Compromise
B-side Remix
Released 1994
Format CD single
Length 4:58
Label PolyGram
Writer(s) Paul Waaktaar-Savoy
Producer(s) Ole Evenrud, G. O. Bøkestad
singles chronology
"The Sun Always Shines on T.V."
(1994)
"Stand And Deliver"
(1995)
Music video
"The Sun Always Shines on T.V." on YouTube

"The Sun Always Shines on T.V." is a song by Norwegian pop rock music band A-ha. It was released as the third single from their hit debut album Hunting High and Low. In some commercial markets the single was not as popular as their previous (debut) single "Take On Me", which had achieved #1 in the United States and several other countries around the world, but in the United Kingdom, and Ireland, it improved upon the #2 charting of Take On Me, reaching #1 on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in January 1986, having been released there on 16 December 1985. Its success secured for the band the prestige of having achieved #1 single status in both the primary Anglo-American popular music charts on either side of the Atlantic.

The song was re-released by the band as a live version in 2003 with some minor success in Eastern Europe. It has sold over 5 million copies worldwide.

The band's Paul Waaktaar-Savoy said,

… we wrote "The Sun Always Shines On T.V.," that Andrew Wickham's secretary felt was a hit. She convinced him to make room for it. When we recorded it, we were really sick with influenza. Magne and Morten were lying in the studio on camping beds with high fevers.

Waaktaar-Savoy wrote and composed the complete drum track for this song.

The bass line for the song was performed using a Yamaha DX7. Other synthesizers include PPG Wave, Roland Juno-60 and sampled instruments such as the oboe during the introduction.

Portions of the song's main lyrics were first used on the unreleased track "Never Never".

"The Sun Always Shines on T.V." was released in autumn 1985, becoming the second successful single from Hunting High and Low and one of the band's most recognizable and popular songs. The song peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It also went Top 5 in Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, as well as in the band's home country of Norway. The single reached number one in Ireland and on the British Singles Chart which was a higher chart position there than for "Take On Me".


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